


More Permanent Than Ink (On hiatus until I finish my exams and actually have time to write)

by ierostache



Category: Bandom, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore, The Academy Is...
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Tattoo AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 03:52:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1495582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ierostache/pseuds/ierostache
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“My brother's been kind of pushing me to get a job but I don't want to work at a pizza place or a book store, I want to work with art you know?”</p><p>“Hey, we have an opening here if you like. Don't worry man, you wouldn't be a tattoo artist, if you wanted you wouldn't even need to be near needles, you could work in the offices back there. I'll give you my number after this and you can go home and think about and then give me a call with your answer. How's that?” </p><p>“Yeah okay I guess.” Gerard mumbled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Permanent Than Ink (On hiatus until I finish my exams and actually have time to write)

**Author's Note:**

> Ok first of all I was planning on finishing this and posting it all in one chapter, but that would take forever and I don't want to not post anything for that long.  
> Also so sorry the summary is shit.  
> I'm going to put about 2-3 pairings in a chapter, meaning the POVs are per pairing basically. It sounds confusing but hopefully you'll get what I mean once you start reading.  
> And as always, any mistakes I take complete responsibility for and please point them out so I can fix them.  
> I hope you enjoy.

 

Gerard was 25 years old and still living in his mom's basement. He had made his way through high school with his head down, surprisingly never taking any beatings, the occasional nasty nickname and shoved into a few lockers, but he had been lucky compared to others. He had gone to art school, made a few friends, finished it quickly, and the next thing he knew he was 21 years old and slaving away at cartoon network.

He had managed to work there for two years, before getting fed up and quitting. Since he had no job he spent most of the day in his basement, sketching comics and vampires and wearwolves and shit that would've probably landed him in therapy if his mom had found out about it back in high school. Well, that was until one day he got distracted and lost track of time, not leaving his room for almost three days. Mikey had dragged him out of there and forced him to at least look for a job, instead of not even trying and living off his mom's money. He had executed it all with a big speech and actual facial expressions, which ok, was kind of the reason Gerard had been scared into at least trying. Seriously, if Mikey was showing that much emotion then he better fucking get his shit together.

That was how he ended up here, walking into the last store on his list, and praying that he actually got the job, mainly because he didn't want Mikey beating his ass, the dude was a skinny fuck but when he tried he was damn terrifying. It was unlikely though, all he had was a degree from SVA, and that didn't exactly help him with 'normal' jobs, not to mention people thought every art student was a freak, which did kind of describe Gerard but still.

The interview had been a total drag, Gerard just answering questions, or rather, murmuring them, and the guy interviewing him 'hmm'ing and saying 'I see' in all the right places.

He sighed as he left the shop, pretty obviously not having gotten the job, since the manager said he'd call him, when he didn't even have Gerard's number.

He draged his feet back to his mom's house, not sure if he felt happy that he didn't get a job and could continue drawing werewolves and torn out hearts in his basement, or disappointed that he wasn't even good enough to get a job at a record store, what the fuck. He supposed it was because he had to be able to speak to people, and he had barely managed to stutter his way through his interview, seriously, now that he thought about it, he had no idea how he had managed to start working at cartoon network.

He pushed the door to his mom's house open, peeking in and glad to see that Mikey was out of the way towards his basement, thanking whichever saints were listening that although they didn't help him get a job, they kept his skinny fuck of a brother out of his way, for now. He managed to creep down the stairs and shut the door silently, flopping down onto his bed in relief, as soon as he toed off his shoes.

His peace and quiet didn't last long though, his cell phone blasting iron maiden at full volume. He sighed heavily and rolled over, smushing his face into his pillow and groaning. Nevertheless, he stuck his arm out and reached blindly for his phone on his nightstand, flipping it open and bringing it to his ear when he managed to grab it.

'''lo?" he half grunted, half mumbled into the speaker, eventually rolling onto his back again so whoever was calling him wouldn't think he was trying to suffocate himself with his pillow, which he totally was, whatever , it's not like it mattered.

"Hey!" he heard Pete chirp delightedly on the other end of the line.

"You have the wrong brother Pete." he said, trying not to sigh.

"Oh but that is where you are wrong, my dearest elder Way." he responded.

This time, Gerard did sigh. "What do you want Pete?" he asked.

"I need you, for like two things." Gerard made a noise that vaguely meant 'I'm not sure I want to hear this but go on'. Whatever, Pete had been hanging around enough with Mikey to know what it meant. "I need you to design me a tattoo. Like inspired by 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. Oh and it's a full sleeve, so just do your magic."

Gerard perked up a bit at that, he fucking loved drawing, and he fucking loved Tim Burton, and if he was being honest with himself, he also really fucking love tattoos, although he wasn't particularly fond of the process of getting them. "Sure, you know I'd do that any day. What's the other thing?." Gerard asked.

"I want you to, uh, come with me to get it done." Pete said, and Gerard could fucking hear him wincing.

"No way man! You know I have a thing about needles, no matter how much my brother's in love with you there is no fucking way." He said, shuddering at the thought.

Pete sighed. "C'mon Gee. You don't have to look, it's just I really don't want to go alone because that fucking sucks, and if I go with someone I'd rather it be the artist of the piece. Besides, you might actually be able to get over your stupid fucking fear and realize that needles aren't gonna fucking attack you just because you happen to be near them."

“Why the fuck don't you just take Mikey?” Gerard asked desperately.

Pete snorted. “Mikey, really? First of all which part of 'I want to take the artist', did you not understand? Second of all, I can't take Mikey, I'd probably pop a boner halfway through and man, that has to be awkward.”

Gerard winced in disgust. “Pete,” he whined. “Shut the fuck up seriously, I will go with you if you don't say another word about yours and my little brother's sex life, jeez man.”

“You are awesome Gee Way. I love you, not in the way I love Mikey though. It has to be done in two days, the drawing that is. I'll pick you up Friday at ten.”

Gerard could practically hear him grinning, and groaned a bit, rubbing his forehead. “Fine, fucking fine. Just to clarify, at ten in the morning or in the evening?”

“Gerard get your shit together, it's obviously at ten in the morning, have you ever seen anyone get a tattoo at ten o'clock at night time?” Pete answered.

“Oh,” Gerard said, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head a bit. “Yeah that makes sense. See you Friday.”

“Who says I'm not coming round before Friday?” Pete asked.

Gerard snorted. “If you come over before Friday do you actually think I'm going to be anywhere near you and Mikey? Besides, I'll probably be locked in my basement drawing your stupid fucking sleeve. Oh by the way, do you want color on the sleeve or is it black and gray?”

“Yeah best to steer away from me and mikeyway, and black and gray.”

“Okay, bye Pete.”

“Bye Gee, you're the best.”

Gerard snapped his phone shut throwing his pillow in frustration. He had managed to not get any jobs, Pete had discussed his and Mikey's sex life with him, and now he had gotten himself talked into going with him to a fucking tattoo parlour, and watch him get a tattoo . His fucking life, seriously. He had a monumental headache just thinking about it. He needed an aspirin, or electroshock therapy.

As he was pondering if electroshock therapy could make you braindead and like, turn you into a zombie or something if it went wrong, Mikey walked into the room, slipping through the tinniest slit in the doorway because he was a bony fucker like that.

“Who was that?” He asked in his usual monotone voice, leaning against Gerard's desk, well the desk he knew was there underneath all the clutter.

Gerard startled from the debate going on in his own mind, and sighed. “Your boy toy Pete, he wants me to design him a tattoo.” He said, digging the palms of his hands into his eyes and rubbing.

Mikey hummed. “So, how did the job search go?”

Gerard let his hands drop from his face and groaned. “Nothing for now Mikes, and I can't search for the next couple of days since I'm designing Pete's tat.”

“Hmm. When's he gonna get it done?” Mikey asked, fiddling around with an action figure that he had picked up from Gerard's desk.

“Um, Friday I think. He said something about coming to pick me up to go with him.” Gerard replied, not even trying to cover up how nervous he was. Mikey would know anyways, mikeyway just knew things.

Mikey raised his eyebrow at him. “You're gonna walk into a tattoo parlour voluntarily, and actually stay and watch Pete get his tattoo done?”

“He's bribing me Mikes,” Gerard whined. “He said if I went with him he wouldn't talk about your sex life.”

Mikey smirked. “Well then you better go.”

Gerard rolled over again into his pillow and muttered something that sounded a bit like 'assholes'. “Go away you traitor, I need to get started on this.” He mumbled, muffled by the pillow.

“Yeah whatever Gee, but as soon as Pete gets his tattoo done you're looking for jobs again.” He said, pointing at Gerard with his free hand.

Gerard flapped a hand at him in consideration, reaching for his largest sketch book and his pencils. He didn't even register Mikey getting out of the room until he looked up to tell him to close the door behind him, and he was gone, the door closed. He flicked his eyes to his desk and then narrowed them, when he saw that his action figure was no longer there. Mikey Way was a sneaky dick. 

Two days later, just before 10am, Gerard finished with the shading. To be honest he was quite proud of it. It had Jack Skellington and Sally, as well as a few other characters in there. He had been locked up in his basement for the better of two days, probably sleeping a total of  ten hours between them, watching horror movies or Buffy The Vampire Slayer when he wasn't rubbing out and perfecting, but whatever. It was worth it, and it wasn't like he hadn't locked himself in for that long before. He just hoped it would fit Pete's arm. His doorbell rang and he ripped the page out of his sketchbook, folding it neatly and running up the stairs to meet Pete.

“Can I see it?” Pete asked as soon as he opened the door, grinning.

Gerard chuckled but unfolded the sketch, handing it over to Pete.

“Woah.” Pete said. “Gee, this is so rad. Thank you.”

“No problem man, can we go now, I kinda want to get this over with.” He said.  
Pete sniggered at him, but gestured at him to follow to his car.

They didn't speak during the car ride, just sang along to Metallica, and they got there way sooner than what Gerard wanted, considering he never wanted to get there.

Pete pretty much dragged him out of the car and into the tattoo shop, and he shuddered as soon as he heard the sound of the tattoo guns.

He looked at the shop, it had framed pieces of artwork and pictures of tattoos up on the walls, and there was a modern style to it, simplistic, yet comfortable. Well, considering he was in a tattoo shop. For fucks sake how did he get into this one?

“Pete c'mon did I really have to come?”

Pete just held up one finger for him to shut up whilst the receptionist walked towards them.

She was kind of short and didn't have that many tattoos, from what Gerard could see, two on her thigh and a few on her arm. She also had orange hair, and not like ginger, but bright, tangerine orange, tied back in a high ponytail, with a front fringe.

Her outfit was also not toned down, a woollen jumper, black on the top and grey on the bottom, slightly tucked into some high waisted shorts, checkered on one side, and black leather on the other, some tights imitating garter straps, and some sneakers with a massive platform.

“Hi I'm Hayley,” She said sticking out her arm for them to shake. “Which one of you is getting inked?”

Gerard snorted. “Him, definitely him.” he said, gesturing to Pete. “I'm afraid of needles.”

Hayley just grinned at him. “Yeah, I figured. Do you have an appointment or...?” She asked Pete.

“Oh yeah,” He said. “With Frank Iero.”

“Oh okay, so I suppose your Pete Wentz, 11am appointment am I right?” She asked, checking something on the computer. Pete nodded. “Okay I'll fetch him for you.” She replied. “FRANK! YOUR ELEVEN O'CLOCK'S HERE!” She shouted across the room, where an also tiny man, yet covered in tattoos stood up and made his way towards them.

“Jeez Hayley, what have I told you about the shouting?” He said once he got there.

“Yeah sorry man.” She said. “This is Pete, he's the one getting inked. And this is uh...”

“Gerard.” Pete answered for him. “He's the guy who designed my tattoo. I'm also boning his brother.” He continued, making Frank and Hayley giggle and Gerard glare at him.

“Pete you dick, you promised me!” Gerard said.

“Okay, okay. I'm sorry.” Pete said, giggling a bit.

“I swear to God, one more time and I'm dumping your ass here.”

Pete held up his hands in mock surrender, just as Frank asked, “So, what are you getting done?”

“Oh,” said Pete, turning his attention back to Frank and unfolding Gerard's sketch. “This, it's gonna be a full sleeve.”

“Woah.” Frank and Hayley said at the same time. “You drew this?” He said, looking up at Gerard.

Frank was beautiful. He had ink all over his arms and hands and he could see two tattoos on his neck. He was small, but well built, and had a defined jawline. He had two big round hazel eyes, complemented with perfectly arched eyebrows. His nose and his mouth were small, each with a silver hoop in them, and his hair was styled in a fauxhawk, sides trimmed and dyed red, with the longer hair dyed black, falling down into a massive fringe, curling beautifully around his jaw. Gerard almost forgot to answer, almost.

“Uh, yeah.” He said, shrugging awkwardly, looking down at his feet while he shuffled from side to side.

“Dude this is awesome.” Hayley said, Frank nodding his head in agreement, his fingers gently touching the paper, so it wouldn't smudge.

“I think this is just the right size for your arm, so I can just trace it. Are we doing left or right?” Frank asked, suddenly snapping out of his trance with the drawing and looking up at Pete.

“Right.” Pete said.

“Okay, I'll be with you in a minute then.” Frank replied, winking at them.

“You can either like go for a walk or sit over there.” Hayley said gesturing towards the sofas in the corner of the shop, grinning. Only then did Gerard realize she had a slight gap in her top front teeth, and it actually kind of suited her. Pete and Gerard smiled at her, saying a thanks and made their ways towards the sofas, plopping down on them.  
  
~  
  
Frank was halfway through tracing Gerard's totally awesome drawing when he suddenly felt someone touch his shoulder. He made a small noise of consideration but continued tracing.

“Dude, he's totally hot.” Said Hayley's voice.

“Who, Pete?” Frank asked, still carrying on with his tracing.

“Yeah well, him too, but I was talking about Gerard.” She said.

“Yeah, he is.” Frank agreed. Gerard was quite a sight. He had this messy black hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed, or washed, in days, that contrasted beautifully with his pale skin. He had these big sort of stretched out hazel eyes, with enormous dark lashes, and big bushy eyebrows, that were still somewhat neat. He had this slightly upturned nose, that Frank considered a Pixie nose, and when he talked it was out of the right side of his mouth. He was tall, and lean, but not skinny. He almost looked like he was straight out of a vampire movie. Frank totally digged it.

“You should ask him out on a date.” Hayley said, this time Frank did stop sketching.

He looked up at her blinking, once, twice. “Hayley, I don't go out with my clients Jesus Christ.” Frank said shaking his head.

Hayley just grinned. “He's not your client though, Pete is. He's just the guy that designed his tattoo, and Pete's boning his brother.”

“Yeah well I can't, because I'm considering hiring him and it's unprofessional to date co-workers, let alone employees.” Frank said.

“You're considering hiring him?” Hayley asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, this place could use more designers around here I mean, look at his fucking work. It's awesome. Besides, who knows, one day he might become a great tattoo artist.” Frank said shrugging, returning to tracing.

Hayley snorted. “Yeah good luck with that. The dude's afraid of needles, it'd be a miracle if you managed to convince him to even stay in this shop eight hours a day, let alone hold a gun with needles in his hand for the majority of that time.”

Frank sighed. “Whatever, I'll just ask him anyway.”  
  
  
~  
  
Gerard was almost asleep, almost. There was still a panic that if he fell asleep Pete would get someone to tattoo or pierce him. The thought that after this he'd have to search for a job again did well in keeping him awake as well. He was considering going home before having a full blown panic attack, just as Frank called them.

“Hey Pete you're up!” Frank said, waving at them to come over. Pete jumped up immediately, almost running towards him, whilst Gerard went as slowly as ever, he couldn't believe he had let Pete drag him into this.

He sat down on a chair looking at his surroundings once again whilst Frank pulled on some gloves, wiped down, then stenciled Pete. It was almost like a weird hardcore version of the doctors, there were needles and various liquids and bandages all laid out on a paper towel on a tray. The only thing that was slightly different from the doctors were the ink bottles and the massive fucking tattoo gun in the corner. Gerard had to force himself to breathe before he passed out right there. He didn't even register someone speaking to him before their fingers snapped him out of his daze, looking up to find Frank grinning at him.

“Hey, you're kind of sitting in my chair dude.” Frank said, still grinning at him, waving around his hands to where Gerard was sitting.

“Oh sorry.” Gerard breathed out, getting out of the chair and gesturing for Frank to sit.

“Hang on I think I have a spare chair for you to sit down somewhere.” Frank replied, nodding to himself. “Hey, that rhymed.” He then added, grinning, and Gerard couldn't help but giggle at him.

Frank got Gerard a chair, putting it right next to his one. “I'm telling you this now Pete, I'm not gonna hold your fucking hand.” Gerard warned as he settled down next to Frank, well, as much as he could settle down next to a guy with a gun full of needles.

“But why not Gerard?” Pete whined, making Gerard sigh.

“Pete you're already really fucking lucky that I'm in a tattoo shop with you, I'm not gonna hold your hand where there's a tattoo gun just centimeters away; fuck you.” Gerard said firmly, but still trying to not have a panic attack.

Pete scoffed and Frank chuckled. “Not a big fan of needles?” He asked.

“No way man.” Gerard replied shaking his head. “Even in art school when we had to do projects that involved needles I would always fail the project, or get someone else to do the needle bit for me. Thank God we didn't have that many projects with needles.” He said, stopping himself from rambling too much.

“Dude you went to art school?” Frank asked, mouth agape, yet still concentrating on doing the outline of Pete's tattoo.

“Yeah, SVA.” Gerard said, shrugging, trying to look anywhere but at the gun, or at Frank.

“No way man, New York?” He asked, the steady buzz from the gun silenced as he wiped off the excess ink.

“Yup, it was fun but I kinda missed my family you know?” Gerard said, the buzzing noise starting up once again after he finished.

“Yeah, I don't think I could leave New Jersey.” Frank said, and maybe, Gerard thought, if he carried on speaking to Frank he could forget he was so close to needles. “So SVA.” Frank continued. “That explains your awesome drawing.”

“Actually that's kind of different from what I did in art school. It's kinda lame but I majored in cartooning. Essentially I majored in comics.” Gerard, supplied, wincing a bit at how nerdy he sounded.

“Oh dude that's even cooler.” Frank said, and Gerard almost had to do a double take because here was a hardcore punk dude, covered in tattoos, not to mention he was also hot, saying that Gerard was cool. Well this was new. “So do you like publish comics or something?” He asked.

“Nah, I draw a few but nothing really published. I worked for Cartoon Network for a while but that was kind of slaving around and coloring in other people's drawings, after I quit I've basically been in my basement drawing.” Gerard muttered. “My brother's been kind of pushing me to get a job but I don't want to work at a pizza place or a book store, I want to work with art you know?”

Frank nodded, his features forming a thoughtful expression, afterward cracking into a grin, because when Frank smiled, he smiled with his whole face. “Hey, we have an opening here if you like.” He said, flicking his eyes to Gerard and chuckling at his panicked expression. “Don't worry man, you wouldn't be a tattoo artist, if you wanted you wouldn't even need to be near needles, you could work in the offices back there. We're kind of in desperate need of a designer, because lots of times people just come in here and tell us what they want and we have to kind of put their idea on paper. Or they come in with a photo but they don't want it the exact same, and we can do it just fine I mean, we're artists, it's just the time is a real bummer. We have tattoos to do and sometimes we have appointments late because we're drawing something out for the client. If we had you, it would be much easier. You'd draw, we'd ink. Twice the work done.” Frank explained.

“I don't know dude, I'm trying really hard to not have a panic attack right now just from being here, I don't know if I could manage that for hours at a time.” Gerard said, even though it seemed like a dream job, designing tattoos, one of his favorite art forms.

“Like I said, we have offices out back. No need to stress. I'll give you my number after this and you can go home and think about and then give me a call with your answer. How's that?”

“Yeah okay I guess.” Gerard mumbled.

“Also, do you know anyone else who'd be interested in the job? We kind of need at least two people on this.” Frank smiled.

“Uh yeah I think so. This old friend from art school, he does really cool shit but like, not as dark as some of the stuff I do. Well with drawing at least, his writing is completely different.” Gerard said, remembering Ryan.

Frank snorted. “Dude you drew a Nightmare Before Christmas Tattoo, that's hardly dark.”

This time, it was Pete that snorted. “He drew that because I asked. He draws the most motherfucking dark things ever. He once drew me as a zombie, it was sick. In both ways.”

“Huh really, I wouldn't have pegged you for the type. No offense but you look kind of delicate.” Frank remarked.

“Uh, thanks I guess.” Gerard said.

“Hey maybe if you decide to take the job you can show me some of your stuff so I know what I'm working with.”

“Yeah okay.”

"Anyway, how come you have a fear of needles?" Frank asked conversationally, eyes focused on Pete's arm, almost finishing the outline of his tattoo.

"Um, I don't really know." Said Gerard shrugging, he hadn't really thought about it, he usually tended to not think about anything needle related, unless you counted his tattoo kink that absolutely no one could know about. "I guess there wasn't like a traumatic event that triggered it or whatever, it's just something that's always been there you know?"

Frank nodded, fiddling with something on the gun to start on the shading. "I feel you man, same with me and spiders, just a fear that's always been there and no traumatic events unless you count me losing sight of them in my bedroom." he said shuddering.

Gerard cocked an eyebrow. "You're afraid of spiders?" he asked, gaping slightly when Frank nodded. "Wow. I mean you're covered in fucking Halloween tattoos and you have a spider web on your hand." he continued.

"I guess we've both surprised each other." Frank grinned. "Besides, just because I have Halloween tattoos doesn't mean I like spiders."

Gerard rolled his eyes. "Whatever, why do you have Halloween tattoos all over you then?" He questioned, hoping he wasn't invading Frank's privacy or whatever by asking.

"Oh about those. Halloween's kinda my favorite holiday, that and it's also my birthday." Frank said, a slight frown then covering his face. "Is it assholish of me for my favorite holiday to be my birthday?" he asked with a wondering look.

"Fuck." Gerard breathed, because that's all he could manage at the moment. "No way, dude, your birthday's like, fucking Halloween. Shit. That's so fucking cool. And no, it doesn't make you an asshole." Gerard rambled.

"So when's your birthday?" Frank asked, his eyes flickering up to meet Gerard's for just a second before looking down at Pete's tattoo again.

"April 9th, why?" Gerard replied, tilting his head a bit in confusion.

"And eye for an eye kind of thing y'know? Huh, April then. Spring, once again you surprise me."

"Why is that surprising?" Gerard asked, still just as confused if not more so.

"Dude you look like a fucking vampire, does your skin even know what sun looks like?" Frank said, not in a degrading way just sort of, curious.

"It probably has a vague memory." Gerard joked, grinning. "Besides, what the fuck does that have to do with me being born in April?"

"Oh, usually people become like attached or whatever to the seasons they were born in, like people whose favourite season is summer, were usually born in it. It's just something I've noticed with people I know. Theoretically you should enjoy spring and the sun and warmth, but I can practically hear you mentally hiss if there's a ray of sunshine remotely near you." Frank explained.

"Um, too many horror movies whilst I was growing up maybe?" Gerard said, cringing a bit.

Pete snorted. "Mikey says it's like PTSD or whatever, I asked him about it once."

"Okay first of all you asked my brother why I didn't like sunlight? Second of all, PTSD? What the fuck?"

"Of course I did, and it's obvious. You were a chubby kid, sunshine meant heat, heat meant your family heading off to the beach, and your family heading off to the beach meant you sitting awkwardly on a beach towel wrapping your arms around yourself protectively whilst other kids pointed and whispered." Pete pointed out matter of factly.

"Huh, I guess that could be right. Hey how did you know about me being fat, Mikey didn't show you my high shool pictures did he?" Gerard said, suddenly alarmed.  
Pete frowned in confusion. "No, Mikey just told me about you being a fat kid but other than- oh my god, you were a fat teen too? Now I'm gonna have to ask Mikey about those pictures." Pete said, trying not to giggle too much and throw Frank off.

Gerard bent forward and burried his face in his hands, groaning. Pete had just completely embarrassed him, and he had managed to embarrass himself even more, all in front of Frank. The hot dude with loads of tattoos, that was short and punky with awesome hair and awesome piercings and generally just too awesome for Gerard. If he didn't think so before, he definitely thought Gerard was a total dorky loser now.

"Hey, I was fat when I was a teen too. I was also the biggest loser in the entire school." Frank piped up, smiling reassuringly at him.

Gerard raised an eyebrow in a challenging sort of way. "I highly doubt that, first of all, your well built, sure you're not all muscle man or whatever but you're good. Second of all, loser, for real? You have tattoos and are kind of this angsty punk rock kid, you're kind of the coolest person I've ever met."

Pete gasped in mock hurt while Frank just continued smiling. "Yeah well, you're not fat now either, just because I'm slightly fit now doesn't mean I wasn't fat years ago. Also, I didn't have tattoos when I was in high school you dumbfuck, and I was a short kid in a catholic school that dyed his hair and wore eyeliner, listened to punk bands and read comics, and on top of all of that, was openly gay."

Gerard tried to contain the little flip his stomach did when Frank said he was gay, seriously, he had only just met the dude. "I suppose we were both as nerdy as each other then. Catholic school then, Queen of Peace?" Gerard questioned, slightly surprise that the punk dude in front of him had been to catholic school, he didn't mention it though, them surprising each other was becoming sort of a pattern.

"The one and only." Frank said rolling his eyes. "What about you, what high school did you go to?"

"Belleville High." Gerard said, also rolling his eyes. "Or as I liked to, and still like to call it, Hellville High."

"That bad huh?" Frank asked. "I guess I should be happy I went to catholic school, if you're openly gay there, you may get a few nasty comments, but other than that the kids there are too much of God loving goody two shoes to do anything. I can hardly imagine what it must be like for a gay, punk boy that's 5'4" and wears eyeliner in a public school."

Gerard scowled. "It was fucking terrible man, and I didn't even get the worst of it. I mean I wasn't 5'4" and I didn't wear eyeliner but I was the gay fat loser who read comic books half the time and spent the other half drawing. I went home with bruises on more than one occasion. Not like I got beat up or anything, just shoved into lockers. Still hurt like a bitch though, and it was apparently enough to bruise."

"Dude, what was going through your mind when you came out at a public high school?" Frank asked, his eyes bugging out of his head.

"I didn't." Gerard mumbled. "They set me up, I was like 16 and they had been calling me a fag for like 2 years, and they finally wanted to find out if it was true. They got this kid to ask me out on a date in exchange for hanging out with them and popularity, and the kid was cute so I said yes, and when we were walking home from the movies and I was almost at my house, I had this stupid fucking idea of kissing him, and a bunch of jocks suddenly jumped out saying they knew it and humiliated the shit out of me. Filmed it and everything." Gerard said shrugging.

"Woah, that's a seriously dick move." Frank said.

Gerard just shrugged again. "Nothing's fair in high school my friend."

Frank chuckled. "Now that, is very true."  
  
They talked for the remainder of Pete's session, mostly just trivial stuff about music or movies, this time Pete joining in a lot more, and before he knew it, the tattoo was done. And it was absolutely breathtaking. Seriously, Gerard could have sworn his drawing had just been printed onto Pete's arm if he hadn't seen Frank doing it.  
  
“Woah, this is, wow, uh, amazing.” Gerard said, sheepishly, trying to not make himself look like a total dork.  
  
“You really think so?” Frank asked beaming up at him and leaning against the counter as Pete payed Hayley.  
  
Gerard nodded ecstatically. “Totally, it looks like my drawing was printed onto Pete's arm.”  
  
“Thanks man, I don't think it does it justice. By the way, are you planning on keeping the drawing?” Frank replied.  
  
“It totally does it justice, and no, not really. Why d'you ask?”  
  
“Well, our shop could do with some more decorations and, to be honest, your drawing is totally fucking awesome. But I already told you that.”  
  
“Oh, wow. Really. I mean sure, do whatever.” Gerard said, totally overwhelmed that this awesome hot guy wanted to keep Gerard's drawing and hang it up in his tattoo shop. Wow seriously.  
  
“Oh sick man. Really thank you so much.” Frank said.  
  
“Hey Gee, time to go.” Pete said, once he finished handling the payment.  
  
“Oh yeah, sorry to keep you guys.” Frank said, leaning up from the counter to shake their hands. “Nice to meet you.” He continued smiling up at both of them, well, up at Gerard, Pete was kind of at his eye level. “Oh shit, I almost forgot.” He said, letting go of Gerard's hand and snatching a piece of paper and a pen from behind the reception. “Here's my number, so you know, you can call me about the job or whatever. Also give it out to anyone else who may be interested, I need maybe like another one or two as well as you.  
  
“Um there's only really like one person I know, but he might know someone else. I'll ask.” Gerard said, taking the piece of paper and folding it neatly before tucking it into his pocket.  
  
Frank chuckled. “Oh man, if I'm going to ask you to do publicity for our shop I'm gonna be in trouble.”  
  
“I thought you said you were busy enough as it is.” Gerard teased back.  
  
“We won't be as busy when you come work for us.” Frank replied, winking.  
  
“Oh yeah what makes you so sure I'm gonna take the job?” Gerard challenged, crossing his arms and smirking.  
  
Frank just shrugged. “I've got charm.”  
  
Gerard giggled. “You sure do. I'll tell you something about the job kay?” He asked, already making his way to the door.  
  
“Sure thing, later dude.” He waved at him and Pete.  
  
“Bye boss.” Gerard said, pushing the door open and giving him a brief salute. It was totally worth the grin he received.

* * *

 Hayley had found herself working at Paco Ink shortly after high school, when it opened up. She had not gone to college, since there wasn't a lot that interested her, and she kept herself busy for a year working at a Starbucks until she had decided to dye her hair pink and the manager had fired her, saying it wasn't appropriate for work.

That was when she was 19, and shortly after, she saw an add for a receptionist needed for a new tattoo parlour that was going to open. She thought that would be fun, or at least they wouldn't fire her for having pink hair. So she went to the interview, and got the job surprisingly easy, even though she didn't have many tattoos. Frank was the person who had interviewed her, since he was the owner of the shop, and had said she was one of the nicest and charming people he had ever met. She had been a bit confused when she had gotten the call from him saying she had the job, asking him about the whole tattoo thing, to which he just replied: "We don't judge people on their looks, we judge them on their skills and their attitude. Besides, your hair kind of makes up for it."

So that's where she was today, three years and a few hair colors later, doing the job she loved most and silently thanking that judgmental dick at Starbucks for firing her.

However she was not moping, not at all. Hayley Williams did not mope. Not visibly at least, it was her's and Brendon's second nature to be happy and giggly. She was just a little down. Usually when she was feeling down she'd spend more time at work, however weird that might sound, but she enjoyed it. Brendon keeping her company during the day and hearing clients' cool stories if whoever was tattooing them was busy, she enjoyed her work.

It was a bit difficult to get herself in a better mood there when her problem was at work. And it really wasn't a problem, sure Taylor was absolutely stunningly beautiful but it wasn't like he distracted her from doing work, this wasn't some stupid teen comedy, if it were she would have been dating him.

She sighed and glanced at him. He didn't have many tattoos for someone who worked in a tattoo shop, but neither did she or Ray she supposed. He was slightly tanned, not even that just, sun kissed, and had round hazel eyes, kind of like Frank's yet different, and his eyebrows were a lot bushier than Frank's, but still nicely kept. He also had a dark fro, unlike Ray's one. His curls were a lot smaller. He also played guitar and was so much cooler than Hayley.

Sure she classified herself as cool, her hair was kind of crazy, as were her clothes. She usually just wore eyeliner with red lipstick though, unless she was in the mood for eyeshadow, so her makeup was nothing wild. Sure she could sing, but no one in the shop really knew how well, except Brendon. So yeah, you could say she was a cool kid, just not as cool as Taylor.

He was nice to her, but 'you're kind of like my kid sister and I'm overprotective of you' nice and not an 'I'd date you' nice. It was sad, spending over eight hours of her day around him and knowing every single time she glanced at him that she would never be able to cuddle with him and do ridiculously sappy things with him because he was totally out of her league. Sure, sue her for being such a girly girl but Frank had always told her to 'fuck gender rolls anyway' and if you're in love, it's totally normal to want that stuff. Bob's voice snapped her out of her trance.

"Hey Hayls." He said, sitting down next to her. Bob was a cool guy, he liked to play tough but he was ridiculously considerate and really nice. If you harmed anyone that he worked with though, he wouldn't hesitate to snap your legs.

"What's up Bobert?" She asked composing herself a bit more. "Do you need anything, cancel appointments, check what you have booked for tomorrow?"

He shook his head and chuckled a bit. "Seriously Hayley, sometimes I wonder if you like your job a little to much. You're way past working hours, and unless you want to sleep here, you can go home now."

She mock frowned. "Aw such a shame I have to leave, that couch over there was looking so comfy."

Bob smiled at her. "C'mon kiddo, you overwork yourself. Also Frank will give me an aneurysm if you don't leave, he worries too much about you."

She smiled back. "Seriously man, I wasn't even working, just daydreaming. And Frank worries too much because he has too much energy for his tiny little body and he either relieves it by moshing or worrying." she teased.

Bob narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at her. "You can talk, you're like a punk rock fairy."

She laughed. "Now that is a comparison that has never been made."

Bob shrugged. "I like to keep it original. Now go home."

She threw up her hands in mock surrender, her leather jacket in one hand, and her backpack in the other. "Okay, Okay. I'm going." She flicked her eyes back to Taylor once more before walking out of the door. She pulled on her jacket once the cold air hit her and stood there contemplating how the hell she was going to stop wallowing in self pity. Well, she thought, the thing that always made her feel better was a bit of change, and she hadn't dyed her hair in a while, her roots were growing in. She smiled to herself before running to the drugstore, so that she got there before it closed, panting slightly when she pushed open the front doors. She purchased what she needed, dye stripper, bleach, and pink and orange dye, and made her way back home, and excited smile on her face.

She unlocked the door to her apartment and threw her backpack and jacket on the sofa taking the drugstore bag to the bathroom, then going into her room to change into an older shirt.

"Hey Brendon!" She called out.

"What's up Hayley?" He answered popping up at the door to her bedroom.

"I'm re-dying my hair so I need your help with the back bits."

"Hayley C'mon it's a Friday night I was meant to enjoy it to the fullest." He whined.

"Don't whine Urie, you weren't really enjoying your friday night to the fullest anyway. And you know you love dying my hair. Besides, this time I'm doing something loud and crazier than I have ever done before. And loud and crazy is your speciality."

He seemed curious when she stated this. "What are you doing?" he questioned.

"Half pink, half orange." she stated, grinning when Brendon's jaw dropped.

"Fuck that's awesome." he breathed. "Are you trimming your bangs again or are you letting them grow?"

"Trimming them, half and half will look better with them like that."

He nodded understandingly. "C'mon we got a lot of shit to do. Trim bangs, strip your current dye, bleach your roots, then dye both halves. Fuck this is going to take time."

"Unfortunately." she said frowning a bit. "At least it'll be worth it."  
  
Almost two hours later, Hayley grinned at her reflection, both sides of her hair freshly dyed.

"Fuck Brendon, come here!" She shouted, running a hand through her hair. "This is so sick."

A few seconds later Brendon appeared in the doorway, grinning as soon as he saw Hayley. "Woah Hayls, it looks totally fucking awesome."

She grinned back at him. "Thanks Bden. I think I'm gonna go to sleep now, you know, work tomorrow morning and all."

"Yeah, at least you have Monday off." Brendon sighed.

"Well yeah, but you have tomorrow off, so you actually get a goddamn weekend and to go out on a Friday night, whilst I don't." She replied, sticking her tongue out.

Brendon chuckled. "It's not like you'd go out anyway, you're married to you job Hayley, face it."

Hayley just grinned at him. "Well, you're supposed to marry what you love!" She exclaimed.

Brendon smirked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? How come you aren't married to Taylor then?" He taunted.

Hayley frowned, then sighed. "Because he'd have to love me back." She muttered, making her way out of the bathroom into the living room and flopping down on the couch.

Brendon sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her, as she snuggled into him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked softly, stroking her freshly dyed hair.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then reopening them. "Nah I'm good. I'm just gonna go to sleep." She said, kissing Brendon on the cheek and getting up.

He unwrapped his arm from her and frowned. "Hey Hayley," He said just before she reached the doorway. She turned around and looked at him, a tired expression on her face. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea it was this bad."

She just smiled softly at him and shook her head. "It's fine seriously, don't stress. Goodnight Brendon."  
"Night Hayley." He replied as she went to her room.

As soon as she crawled into bed, she set her alarm, falling into sleep as soon as her head collided with her pillow.  
  
Hayley arrived at the tattoo parlour just in time for work. She had slept for an extra 5 minutes after her alarm went off, which had accidentally turned into 20, resulting in her suddenly jolting awake and panicking. She had barely even had time to register what she got dressed in. She looked down at herself, some dark gray skinny jeans, almost high waisted but not quite, a graphic crop tee of some sorts, a denim jacket with rolled up sleeves, and some black doctor martens. Not bad, she thought, and it kinda worked with the two side buns she had done in an attempt to get rid of her bed head quickly.

"Woah, nice change Hayley." Frank called from the counter as she pushed open the door. Everyone in the shop accepted her manic hair with open arms, but Frank was really the only person who understood her need for change, mainly because he needed it himself too, getting a new tattoo as often as possible and also changing up his hair every once in a while.

"Thanks!" She said grinning, hopping off to replace him behind the reception area. "I was needing it, hadn't dyed this baby in a while." She said, scrunching up her nose when Frank sniffed her hair.

"Sorry," He said smiling sheepishly. "You know how much I love the smell of freshly dyed hair, it's kind of like smelling a book."

She rolled her eyes, still smiling at him. "Yeah I know, I kinda like it too. Which should be kind of weird, considering the terrible smells we have to deal with during the actual process." She remarked.

He chuckled a bit. "I know, bleach is fucking horrible. Anyway, I have to go do some actual work now since we don't have any artists to draw these out for us yet. See ya."

She waved at him, then turning around to check the computer to see their appointments for the day, surprised to see Taylor standing there, looking at her.

"Oh hi Taylor." She said, grinning widely at him.

"Hi yourself. Nice hair. It's original, out there." he remarked, pointing at her head.

"The style or the color?" She asked, smirking a bit, although her stomach was currently winning an Olympic medal with the backflips it was doing.

He chuckled a bit. "You never fail to put me in a good mood." He said, smiling at her. "And both I suppose." She stared at him for a while, trying to process through what he had just told her, in turn creating an incredibly awkward silence. "I'm just gonna-" he said, waving awkwardly at the various stations, where most people were working on sketches.

She cleared her throat. "Uh yeah sure, go ahead."

He smiled at her and she smiled back, before he walked to his work area.

"Shit." She whispered to herself. Why did she always have to be so awkward?

She sighed as she bent over, resting her elbows on the counter top, and cradling her head in her hands. Suddenly there was a hand on her back and she jumped a bit, turning around to find Alicia frowning at her.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked.

"Um yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Hayley replied.

Alicia smiled knowingly, yet sympathetically. "You're moping Hayley. That's very uncharacteristic of you."

"Me, Hayley Williams? Moping? Nuh Uh, Hayley doesn't mope." She said matter of factly, crossing her arms over her chest and straightening up.

Alicia just raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Everyone mopes every once in a while, and you looked particularly sad just now." She challanged.

Hayley sighed. "Okay, so I may have or may have not been a teenie weenie bit upset."

Alicia brought her into a hug. "Hey c'mon cheer up, I'm sure he likes you back." Then walking off as Hayley gaped after her.

"Wait, how did you know?" She asked, ignoring Frank's warning of 'Hayley, shouting'.

"I'm dating this dude that constantly hangs around the record store down the street, he kind of just knows everything, must get it from him." She replied.

And ok, Hayley really needs to get her head back on earth because how did she not even know Alicia had a boyfriend, let alone been with him for long enough to start picking up his traits. "Later you have to tell me all about this mystery guy." She said in a sing song voice.

Alicia just rolled her eyes. "You're such a girl." 

Hayley grinned and shouted a shhort 'female power' to which Frank replied 'hell yeah', her mood was definately lifting.

It wasn't even until later that she remembered Alicia had said 'I'm sure he likes you back'. She pondered on it a bit, thinking about whether that was actually possible, when Frank called her.

"What's up?" She asked, trying not to grin too much.

"When's my next appointment?" He asked her, tapping his fingers on the counter impatiently and glancing out the window every so often.

"In like, two and a half hours." She said, checking the computer.

He sighed in relief. "Ok cool, I'm going to pop out for a bit. That dude Gerard from yesterday just called me saying he's interested in the job and wanted to talk about it and show me some of his stuff, I'm going to Starbucks."

"Oh yeah sure, go ahead." She said waving a hand at him. "If anything happens I'll call you."

"Thank you so much you're a life saver." He gushed, running out of the door.

"No problem." She called loud enough for him to hear, grinning and going back to work.

~

Taylor was nervous, not just nervous but a total wreck. He had had a talk with Frank earlier to ensure this was totally fine, Frank having told him that the 'no dating co workers' was just his personal moral, and it was totally fine as long as it didn't distract them from their job, and that if he ever hurt Hayley he and Bob would go after him. Taylor wasn't worried, it's not like he'd do such a thing.

Besides, he didn't even know if Hayley liked him back, he was mainly doing this because it was killing him to keep this a secret any longer. It was just that Hayley was insanely cooler than him, not being afraid to dress extravagantly and dye her hair all sorts of crazy colours. The kid could also _sing_ , although she thought no one knew. Brendon had recorded her and showed everyone at the store without her knowing, apparently she was kind of modest when it came to that.

He approached her just as she finished handeling the last payment of the day, then sighing and leaning against the counter.

"Hi Hayley." He said as he leaned on the counter next to her.

She looked up at him with a tired expression. "Hi Tay."

"Rough day at work huh?" He questioned, smiling sympathetically.

"Nah, just a long one." She said sighing.

"At least you have Monday off." He joked.

Hayley chuckled a bit. "To be honest I'd rather be here."

"You enjoy your job way to much. Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to go out for dinner sometime or something." He mumbled awkwardly.

She looked up at him, mouth agape. "You're serious?" She whispered.

He grinned at her. "Absolutely."

She smiled back. "Yes, a million times yes. Although I would prefer movie night with pizza and lots of candy."

He shook his head and chuckled. "Pizza, movies, and candy it is then. C'mon." He said grabbing her hand and dragging her towards the door.

She held up her finger just before they left. "Hey Frank," She called. "You're going to have to close the store today." They both ran out the door afterward, hearing his chuckle behind them.

 

 


End file.
